Month: April 2005

An Indian community stripped of its main asset, water, with predictable consequences and a lot more besides, by a local Coca-Cola plant. This stuff is never rocket science, but how do things get like this. Committees of moral men making immoral decisions again ? [CounterPunch] [via Robot Wisdom]

Google.org that is … [Slashdot] [via Robot Wisdom].

Not to be outdone by Bill Gates, Larry Page and Sergey Brin – declare their philanthropic intent.

Well, actually, they already have …

After the “Poetics” (in The Name of the Rose) you had the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili” (in The Rule of Four, Princeton), now read the “Oxyrhynchus Papyri” (in real-life, Oxford University) – new technology allows reading of long lost classics – Sophocles, Euripides to name a few … [Independent Online] [via Robot Wisdom]

Neat idea from ZipCar (Can you tell I’ve been catching up reading the BBC site this morning ?)

It’s just car-hire with technology used to increase time and space slicing efficiency – “public” (subscription) transport in on-demand packets – I’m sure we’ve all had the idea. The really neat part is the idea that “For every ZipCar on the road, 20 private cars become redundant”.

Will the motor industry lobby ever let this work ? Go ZipCar.

Japanese official denial of Nanking as a significant tragedy, continues to justify anti-Japanese sentiment (and action) in (Mainland, People’s Republic of) China. I’ve just come back from a trip through Chiang Kai-Shek airport in (Taiwan, island Republic of) China.

Can’t help thinking it is significant that the occupants of Nanking, Chiang Kai-Shek’s “nationalist” army and Kuomintang governement, were then engaged in a civil war power struggle with the Communist Chinese before fleeing Nanking to Taiwan. Dare I suggest that Japan’s (normaly honorable) attitude to their enemy in Nanking might have been colluded, encouraged, at least tolerated by the communists at the time.

For example, I find it odd that the strong anti-Japanese sentinment is “on the winning side” in PRC, whereas the concern with this period of history remains strong in ROC. Does the PRC sentiment over Nanking, really reflect a popular PRC sympathy for the ROC, despite ongoing official cold relations – reaching sabre-rattling invasion threats as recently as only a couple of weeks ago ? Had me nervous about the trip to Taipei CKS in fact.

Does the suggestion of PRC official tolerance of the popular PRC protests suggest the PRC government is itself emotionally ready to resolve this triangle of guilt, or at least exposing that it sees itself on the horns of a dilemma ?

(Must look out for official and unofficial ROC attitudes to this PRC / Japan situation.)

Sadly ironic to note in the story [via BBC] of the recently-convicted-for-life Algerian Al-Qaeda police-murderer and ricin-terrorist that, on the one hand, the police chief is playing down religion (99.99% of moslems are law abiding, etc), whilst the bereaved family is playing up it’s christian faith.

Football that is. Yeovil fan just walked up to me here in Changi, keen to check the Southend result from last night – they lost to Orient.

That means if Yeovil beat Kiddy today, they’re in champions spot apparently. Interestingly Reading were interested in the defeat of Blades by Derby last night – now we only need Millwall to beat Hammers for our play off place to be entirely in our own hands.

The connection ? Johnny Mullins of Reading is on loan at Kiddy and being influential according to manager Watkiss, who wants to extend the loan. (Though he’s an injury doubt for this particular game.)

Football outside the premiership really is interesting these days – so many outcomes dependent on so many results with just a few games to go yet again this season.

… or maybe France … Gibberish, computer generated “scientific” paper is accepted for conference in Orlando [via BBC]. To be fair, it was passed unreviewed by default due to missing reviewing milestones. So no-one was actually conned by its content, unilke the French existentialist quantum genetics (?) example earlier, but Oh Dear.

Perversely, I’ve just been corresponding with Chris over at Enlightened Caveman about the difficulties of getting serious, thoughtful but amateur material published or even read in academic channels.

And … His Essence ? … did I get that right – CNN in the background again – Hand lotion and wax candles infused with “His” essence from some holy spring – who buys this stuff ? Who thinks it up ?

File under conspiracy – see below.